Kennedy Space Center , Florida -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The space shuttle Endeavour landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Wednesday , completing its 25th and final mission -- the next-to-last mission for NASA 's 30-year-old space shuttle program .

`` Welcome home , Endeavour , '' Mission Control in Houston said .

The spacecraft touched down at 2:34 a.m. ET at the end of a nearly 16-day mission to the International Space station .

`` It 's sad to see her land for the last time , but she really has a great legacy , '' said shuttle commander Mark Kelly after Endeavour rolled to a stop in the darkness of a warm Florida morning

The youngest of the shuttles retires after 25 space flights . During 299 days in space , Endeavour orbited the earth 4,671 times and logged almost 122.9 million miles , NASA said . It first went into service in 1993 .

Endeavour unlocked from the International Space Station late Sunday after spending more than 11 days linked to the orbiting laboratory , where the astronauts installed a cosmic ray detector . The $ 2 billion , 15,000-pound machine is already at work `` gathering information that could improve our understanding of the universe , '' Kelly said .

`` The retirement of Endeavour and the shuttle fleet will not end the human need to explore , '' Kelly said in comments from space that were posted on NASA 's website . `` It is and always will be part of who we are . The United States will build other spaceships better than those of today . Even if they are years in the future , they will nevertheless increase our knowledge of the world , generate an enormous benefit to the economy and inspire our children . ''

On July 8 , space shuttle Atlantis is to make NASA 's final shuttle flight .

Thousands of people turned out Tuesday night at Kennedy Space Center to watch it make the three-mile trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad .

`` Look how majestic it looks rolling out to the launch pad , '' said astronaut Sandy Magnus to reporters . `` Look at that and see what we can do when we put our minds to it . ''

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Endeavour 's 16-day mission took it to the international space station

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The retirement will not end `` the human need to explore , '' says Cmdr. Mark Kelly

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The shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to take off on NASA 's final space shuttle mission on July 8